The DAISY Award

And the real Daisy award goes to my sister-in law...... Chari Alvarez Reynolds, who carried the baby for nine months and just delivered a sweet girl named Daisy Skye Reynolds!  September 17 to be exact.  Can't wait to meet her! 

Cousin Nate gave me the "Daisy Award," http://nfeaton.blogspot.com/
which is essentially an invitation to update my blog, thank you Nate.  Obviously, I'm six months behind!  And who knows how much time could pass if he hadn't poked me. 

The Daisy Award asks me to list seven unusual or weird things about myself. 

1.  I once went on a week-long vacation with five other Italians to southern France:  Cannes, Nice, etc.  These were friends from my mission, and we had a blast.  Favorite memory was parasailing in the French Riviera with Andrea (pronounced Ann-drey-uh; its a male name in Italy).  He started cursing in Italian because ropes had gotten tangled up in his business and the whole situation was so random and hilarious to me that I got the giggles.  We kept going up and up and it was exhilirating, and there was Andrea, in pain, cursing in Italian.  Awesome.

2.  I once ran into two co-workers in Venice.  These kinds of coincidences fascinate me!  There were only 70 working for the theatre, so not a big business, and we just happened to be on vacation the same time as them.  There I was, perusing some museum in Venice in St. Marks Square, and I saw Seth out of the corner of my eye.  Crazy!  He invited my sister and I into their swanky hotel room.  Fancy!  I sat on the bidet, we all took a picture and sent it to our friends at work.  Nobody believed us at first, even with the picture, they thought we weren't serious.

3.  Speaking of bidets, I happen to favor them.  Most Americans think they are unnecessary and weird, but they are the best hygeine invention ever!  And why do we not have them in the States!?  Its just a convenient little bath/ shower for your privates, which hello, we all need from time to time, so, just sayin... I may have one installed in my home someday and I hope that you won't think I'm weird.  More importantly, I hope that you too will embrace the bidet.

4.  I had the same BFF from kindergarten - 12th grade!  We were inseparable and so much alike.  She was the brunette version of me and I was the blonde version of her.  We both played violin in orchestra for 9 years, sang in choir, worked at Ned's Krazy Sub (her dad's sandwich shop), wore matching nerdy clothes, went to girls camp and everything Young Women together, studied French with Randy Payne at Mesa High School, and played church and city softball.   We truly had a soul connection and I sure loved her guts.  She was fun, she was cool and she was a good Mormon girl.  What a blessing in my life!

5.  I used to work in the Travel & Tourism Industry and got to travel to interesting international spots such as Guadalajara, Mexico; Vancouver & Victoria Island, British Columbia; and lots of domestic places such as Chicago.  Man, I still miss the perks of those jobs.  Especially the snazzy hotels they'd put me up in.

6.  I met my husband on a blind date.  My sister Teri lived in Omaha in 2000 and I visited her on a business trip.  She hardly even knew Peter, she just knew that he played the piano and that I liked pretty, musical guys.  Voila!

7.  I sometimes unwind, relax and otherwise work through my life by shaking a pen in my right hand - very quickly and purposefully.  Then I zone out, if you will, and go to some other dimension of concentration (slight exaggeration).  The best pens are the ones with a white or shiny tip so that they stand out against a dark background.  This is definitely the most unusual thing about me and oddly, I should be embarrassed but I am not.  The term is known as "stemming" which is any repetitive or soothing behavior.  People with autism do it all the time; they move a toy car in circles for long periods of time, for example.  Many people have some minor little habit of stemming, such as myself.  I started realizing how often I did it when my daughter at eight months began imitating me!!!  That was trippy and I have since cut back on the secret stemming.

8.  I do love kickball!!!  Its my favorite group game/ sport. 

Nate, I know thats eight things, but I couldn't leave out kickball or bidets!?  Pictures coming soon, I promise.  Check back in a week or so.  I especially hope to have a picture of my BFF and I in those purple koolot pants with the frilly purple shirts and the snazzy light blue tennis shoes.  Sixth grade people.  Big glasses.  Its pretty awesome.  Now to start digging...

SIX MONTHS!

She almost sits up by herself. She's got two teeth. And she's grabby. She says, "da, da, da" sometimes. She's learning to wave. She'll look at her hands and mimic the wave. We think she's "advanced." NOT! Peter's got a negative stigma against people who always think their child is special or advanced. Goes back to his days working at Mad Science (science camp for 6th graders). 80% of the parents would whisper to him, "our child is special" or "advanced" and so it became a joke. Yeah, lady, we'll be sure to put him with all of the other special ones.... so I guess you won't catch us saying Sydnie is either of those adjectives. Except when we compare her to Cousin Tessa who's 3.5 months younger...

5 months!

Don't worry, we'll only be putting up the monthly posts for the first year of her life...

Life's Gifts

I recently put together a couple of gifts and these projects brought me great joy. My sister-in-law Chari turned 30 on February 20th and my older sister Teri turned 40 on February 25th. Big birthdays! What do you gift someone on such a special birthday? Stealing the idea from another variation, I came up with "30 Things we love Chari" and "40 Things we love about Teri." Getting input from family members, they came out quite lovely when framed. It brought tears to my eyes reflecting on the individual phrases and the qualities each of them embodies. Sisters are excellent gifts.

Peter has a sister, Amy. She's his twin! We recently had the chance to go up and visit her family in NH. Here's a picture of the two of them going jogging. I love how Peter has no qualms about wearing my "feminine" looking purple hat bc it was cold outside. We had a wonderful time. I took the girls to see "Big Miracle" in Concord where we devoured an enormous tub of popcorn and extra large sodas. They were fascinated with my car's sunroof (well, not Cope especially). Did I say we had a great time? Family is an excellent gift. Take Sydnie for example. She's pretty much the best gift ever!!!!!

Wazup with the NY Nelsons

So... Peter's on an anesthesia rotation. He'll be doing this for the next few months. Instead of taking call and working with patients in the oral surgery clinic, he spends his days with the anestheologists in the hospital. They have a variety of cases and surgeries, so its always new and exciting. He's learning how to perfect his skills at putting someone to sleep and the vigilant monitoring it requires. Sometimes it can be loathsome and tragic - as was the case last week. He calls me to report that he assisted with anesthesia for two VTP surgeries. I naively asked what that stood for. Voluntary termination of Pregnancy. My jaw dropped and my eyes immediately started watering. WHAT did you just say!? Yeah, pretty horrible. Especially considering the fact that we waited so long for Miss Sydnie and we never knew if she was ever going to come. People are killing babies in their tummies and we know folks, ourselves included, who'd willingly take them into our arms and our lives. Peter and I both had a good cry. The good news is that he often gets home much earlier than he normally would (afternoons even). We'll take it!
On happier topics, I am throwing myself into my Young Women calling. We are doing a Readers Theatre based on the parable of the 10 Virgins for New Beginnings in two weeks, and I still have to finish writing it! Its all in my head and its been there for two months. Now I must get it out of there and onto the paper. The theme this year is "Arise and Shine Forth." I'm also polishing up a Jeopardy game in Power Point based on the New Era for 2012 that we will play with the youth tomorrow night. Peter is the Young Men President and we love working together. As usual, Peter throws himself into his calling and is making a real difference in the lives of the boys.
Cousin Nate Eaton and lovely wife Erica visited NYC last weekend. We had dinner with them at a diner in midtown before their show. They are both so fun and excellent conversationalists. Welcome to the family Erica! We love adventures into the city. In fact I went to lunch with a colleague from my old job at Prisma on Monday. We ate at Brother Jimmy's BBQ. Yummy. Syd loves to get out. Often her only request is to talk to her, take her outside, and to see new things besides the walls in our apartment. :)

Killing us with her cuteness!

My baby is four months now and I've turned into the typical obsessed new mother. How can I not? She's a little piece of heaven right there in my arms! The smile, the cooing, the facial expressions... four months is an awesome age.

Baby Sydnie is a lovely, mellow, social and patient person. So far. She's the embodiment of CHILL. We are spoiled, we know, don't worry we are repeatedly told this and we are aware that not all babies are this sweet and kopasetic all the time. And we are grateful every day.

Here are some recent pics. I love her sideways glances in the carseat shot. If I remember correctly, she was skeptically observing Daddy as he acted like a monkey.

We went to AZ over Christmas and blessed her on December 26, 2011 in Scottsdale. Tons of family were present; we got some great pictures!

We are getting used to all of this quality time together since I quit my job (halelujah sweet freedom)! Life couldn't be more domestically sweet for us right now.

Super Syd!

Here she is! Our gorgeous little baby Sydnie Jolene Nelson. She's already a month old, born on 9-21-2011. She weighed 6 lbs, 9 oz and was nearly 21 inches long. At our one month doctor visit, she weighed 8 lbs, 13 oz, so she's growing well...as you can see in the progression of pictures. We are predictably, blissfully in love with baby girl. She's an angel, sometimes sleeping 6-7 hours at night. We are spoiled, but so is she!

Paco puts the smack down

Now that our ambitious Dr. Nelson has begun his residency, he's more official than just an intern, however, he's still the new guy and subject to abuse. Por ejemplo: he spent the month of August up at Westchester Medical Hospital Center in Valhalla. The chief resident put him on call two days in a row, and then every third day/ night for the entire month. Its a high trauma month, meaning they get extreme cases from all over the county, nearly 24-7. Consequently, he didn't get much sleep and was logging nearly 100 hours a week. Working over 80 hours as a resident is against the law, so he was basically set up to fail, no matter what he did. He agonized over the situation all month. Should he lie about the hours? He'd done some of that at Brooklyn and at St. Luke's, but the difference was how much the chief resident cared about him... and the fact that he was hoping to get into those other programs, thus more likely to take hits for the team. At Westchester, the chief brazenly didn't put himself or the other chief resident on the schedule. At all. By dumping most everything on Peter, and not seeming to care, the chief had clearly communicated his interest in cruising through his final year by abusing the underlings. Peter, though, was pushed to the edge, and finally said something to the program director (who was unaware of the situation b/c he works down in the city full time and doesn't provide much oversight up in Valhalla). Everybody had to report their hours personally to the director and he had to approve the upcoming months' schedule. Mission accomplished. Feathers were ruffled, but Peter remained unmoved and happy with his choice. Oversight will increase and the other underlings (called GPR's = General Practice Residents = basically ppl just out of dental school who have to do one year in a hospital to get their dental license in NY) received a copy of the law from Peter to prevent future abuse. When the chief finally stopped giving him the silent treatment and the stink eye, Peter asked him, "are you mad at me, or are you mad at yourself?" Ouch. Someone got SPANKED!
Isn't it disturbing to think that there are senior residents with years of experience trying to get out of working (ie. attending to vulnerable patients with oral/ jaw problems) by passing it all on to the new, inexperienced residents? Wow, this whole world is changing my paradigm on healthcare.

Anything Goes

Ah, the price we pay for cheap theatre tickets.

Yesterday morning, I got up at 5:30am, took the 6:03 train to Grand Central Terminal, walked to the Steven Sondheim theatre (4 blocks) , and got in line (6:49am). I was the 2nd arrival and the girl ahead of me got there at 6:30am. Yikes! Another girl joined us at 7:05am, and others trickled in over the next couple of hours. By 9am there were 25 people. At 9:30am a guy came out and announced that there were only 9 "rush" tickets. That means that only a handful of us early arrivals were getting tickets. Yippee! At 10am when the box office opened, I bought my two for $30 each. Last row on the upper level. I texted my friend Sara, told her we were on and went to work. Exhausted. Seriously, what was I thinking!? 7 months pregnant and my feet ached. It was hot and humid morning, and I didn't get much sitting or walking time while in line - mostly just standing. Ugh. Oh well, my energy recovered as the day went on and by 6pm, I was excited about the show. Met Sara for a quick salad and the show started at 7pm.

Anything Goes was excellent. No wonder it won the TONY for best revival. Sutton Foster is extremely talented - her dancing, singing and acting were all superb. Joel Gray was darling and so funny! The tap dancing numbers were explosive. "Blow, Gabriel, Blow!" When we got out at 9:40pm-ish, I ran to the train station to catch the 10pm train to Yonkers. What a day! I do not regret the "price" I paid to see this show, esp knowing that when Sydnie comes, my ability to do things like that will be limited!

"Very Passionate about Ward Clerkdom"

So, the new ward clerk says to the outgoing ward clerk: "What was the name of that former clerk you were talking about who had the great system of keeping track of things? I'd love to talk with him about some ideas." To which the old wark clerk responds: "His name is Peter Nelson. He just moved to Yonkers. He is a super friendly guy and very passionate about ward clerkdom, so I think he would love to explain his system to you." Awww.... ain't it the truth. Thats our Paco! [The above quotes were taken directly from an email exchange].
Peter and I moved out of a very large ward in Manhattan to a very small branch in Westchester county. On a good Sunday, there are 30-40 people at church. In RS, we have about 8-9 sisters total, including the presidency. We combine with EQ regularly for the third hour, about 50% of the time. We haven't gotten callings yet, but we're speaking in two weeks. This will be a new and different adventure for sure. And if Peter finagles correctly, he may get to employ his passion for ward clerkdom in our new branch. And that, for Paco, would be "livin' the dream."

Pictured here, he is taking a break from oral surgery & clerkdom to enjoy the park adjacent to our old digs.

Over-advertising

Friday, August 5, 2011
Dear Great Courses Customer Service Department:
Last year, I made one purchase from your company and since then, I have been inundated with marketing & advertising materials. I am happy with my product, and I like and appreciate what your company is all about.
However, I think you should know that the excessive amount of advertising I have received literally pains me – as it wastes paper and cheapens your products. It saddens me to see so much paper being wasted and the environmental consequences. Further, there’s a desperation communicated in the repeated outreaches to “capture” me back as a customer. I would have much more respect for your company and your products if I received significantly less advertising. Again, its excessive, desperate, wasteful and repulsive. Your over-advertising has turned me off to your company and your products, rather than the effect I’m sure you’d wish it to have. In all honesty, at this point, the more you advertise to me, the less likely I am willing to purchase anything.
Kindly note my request to be removed from your mailing lists, your email lists, and any other list I may be currently on (niche/ marketing/ target individuals, etc). I know where and how to find your products and will reach out to you on my terms when I am ready and interested in making any further purchases.
Best Regards,
Allison Nelson

Blueberry Picking in CT

Went blueberry picking at a farm in CT last weekend. Peter was on call all day Saturday and he had to stay at the hospital the whole day, so I figured.... play date w/ girls! It was a 2 hour drive north. I was on "Laela duty" in the back seat; I got to entertain 11 month old Laela, the daughter of my friend Kamilah. I think you'll agree with me that she's beyond adorable.

We leisurely picked for 3 hours. Sarah got 20 pounds; Kamilah and I picked 10 pounds each. $2.50/lb. Not bad. We snacked a few as we went along... they were big, fat and fresh. Peter was in heaven when he opened the fridge and saw the box waiting for him.

I think its going to become an annual tradition!

Cause We Don't Play

Moving is one of the most stressful things a person can do. Peter and I have moved five times in our first six years of marriage!? Yeah... the only good thing about moving is that one must purge one's things and thoroughly clean one's environment. And sometimes things go smoother than others. This last time around was a doozy.
All the things that went wrong:
1. Our realtor was 2 hours and 11 minutes late for the appointment to get the keys on the Friday night before the move. Excuse me!?
2. Our movers were two hours late late b/c their truck broke down on moving day
3. B/c our movers were late, we surpassed the 5pm deadline for using the elevators in the new building
4. The Board President came by to introduce herself at 6:11 pm and threatened/ promised that we would be fined $1,000 for surpassing the elevator deadline of 5pm... b/c as she said, "cuz we don't play." Whatever that means. We'll be quoting her for months and laughing through our tears.
5. The moving company required a payment of cash only (how did we miss that?!) and we had to make a desperate, last minute trip to the ATM, only to be rejected by our daily maximum allowance. We had to talk them into taking a personal check
6. There was no fridge in the apartment, although we'd been asking about it for a few weeks
7. We iced our condiments in the cooler for three days until the fridge finally arrived, which is a little bit embarrassing. And then we threw them out anyway because, well, EEWWWWW...
8. We discovered that neither bathroom has a single electrical outlet, a fact that that seems impossible to have overlooked in retrospect...
9. The ceiling fan in our bedroom has no switch, no remote or no little pully thingy.... Mgmt says this is not their responsibility
10. The oven was dirty; we're required to have 80% of our awesome wood floors covered with "carpet" asap; and the man above us moans every 75 seconds as if he's being tortured or has fallen off the bed and can't get up (ear plugs are the best way to survive the nights). Its tragic, but we've heard someone conversing with him (a nurse?), so we know he's not alone.
Apart from the above mentioned items, this apartment is big and beautiful and we LOVE it. Our address is iconic NY: We live on Bronx River Road in Yonkers, NY. We have two bedrooms and will have a nice nursery for baby Sydnie come October. And about that $1,000. We are so not paying it. We will fight back. And we will win. Cuz, seriously lady, we don't play.
Pictures coming soon!!!

Baby Products - Necessary or Superfluous?

Hello to my handful of readers out there. If you're a mom, can you provide some baby product advice? Peter and I will begin acquiring baby stuff next month when we're in our new place. What was/is a must have for you? What is superfluous/ unnecessary? What do you swear by - best product ever? What did you never use and took up too much space? Recommendations, please!

Father's Day & Baby Kicks

Peter got to feel the baby kicking for the first time last night. On Father's Day. She was pretty active as I was ready to fall asleep, so he got to feel her fight! Very cool and very surreal.
Peter started his residency orientation TODAY for New York Medical College (comprising Westchester Community Hospital in Valhalla & Metropolitan Hospital on the upper E side of Manhattan). He'll split his time between these two hospitals for the next four years, which is why we're moving to YAWN-CUZ (Yonkers), smack dab in the middle. This past weekend was his very last working/ "on call" for St. Lukes - Roosevelt. YAY! Big day for us.
Probably even bigger than Father's Day because the residency is real and the baby still seems like a dream.
Reminiscing...I'm grateful for an exceptional father who always played with us and taught us the value of hard work. He worked hard, but he played hard too, so we had an excellent example to follow. My dad was always the "cool" dad at the community swimming pool, throwing us around and off his hands, etc. He also built us bikes and took us on adventures. He always took the time to play board games with us and to talk about our problems. I remember many fun daddy-daughter dates growing up. I am extremely blessed. Pictured here is my dad 'n me on his May 2011 visit to NYC. Can't wait to see Peter as a daddy!

BELLY!

Here's me at 22 weeks along (blue shirt with pink shoes); 23 weeks (Brown sweater/pants with pink shirt), and 24 weeks (Red stripes/ black). So far I've gained 16 pounds. Yikes! Not over the target weight but we havent even hit the last trimester and my appetite is growing. Today I ate an entire footlong from Subway with Doritos!!! YUMMY.

Memorial Day Weekend 2011

Saturday was our marathon apartment hunting expedition. We left the house at 7:30am, had our car serviced and washed, got new keys made, and spent hours exploring neighborhoods in the E Yonkers/ Mt Vernon areas. It was exhausting and we only viewed 5 apartments! Finally, at 7:00m, a realtor called us as we were almost home. He offered to show us an apartment at 8pm, and we reluctantly agreed, not wanting to drive back up north. Ugh. We were glad we did, though, because this was the best apartment yet. We actually started the application process and hope our searching is over.
Sunday we went to a ward in New Rochelle (N/E of the city) to meet with members and ask questions. Our prayers were answered, as the first lady we met was extremely helpful and let us quiz her for nearly 40 minutes. Turns out she was on Primary bathroom duty, so she was fine to be a hall monitor and talk with us. We observed the Sabbath and had a restful afternoon, finishing off the evening with Root Beer floats and a card game with our neighbors.
Monday we relaxed and had my definition of a perfect day off:
Slept in, mopped the floors, went biking along Riverside Drive with Peter on his roller blades, explored the Hi-Line Park (a new park created from an old railroad station - last used in 1980), dined in Chelsea Market, got sun-burned, enjoyed the outdoors, konked out for a nap while reading an excellent book, went maternity clothes shopping and spent too much money, ate Mahi mahi burgers and watched a movie with Peter. A perfect holiday!

I Heart Hondas

Paco bought us a car last weekend. Its a 2002 Honda Accord, 4-door, 61K miles, black with gray leather interior for the mere price of $8,000. We were told that parking is much easier after Columbia's graduation in mid-May when many of the students leave, so we waited until then. Although Peter did spend an hour the first night trying to find a parking space when he first brought it home, we are hoping that it won't always take so long. We have to move it twice a week for street cleaning (either M-Th or T-F) around noon, so luckily Peter works close by and can do this on his lunch break. We need the car to go apartment hunting in Westchester county. We'll be glad to get out of the city to bypass the tedious parking situation! I never even saw the car before he bought it, just heard the specs and saw the pics. I've owned two Hondas, so I knew that it was a quality investment. Paco took care of the insurance, registration and licensing. I heart Paco!

Christie Brinkley starring in Chicago and/or why I regret my decison to go see this show

I should listen to my gut more often. Not pregnancy cravings, although I am really digging on chocolate/yogurt pretzels these days, but my gut reaction on how something is going to turn out. Take Christie Brinkley starring in the Broadway Musical Chicago, for instance. She's not a vocalist or an actress, I knew that; she is a supermodel. So I knew that her voice and her acting would be mediocre before I even went to the show. And I was right. Grrr... it reminded me of how I felt watching Pierce Brosnan starring in Mamma Mia! the movie and having a SOLO as a non-vocalist. It was absurd and awful to say the least. If you saw it you know what I mean. Ridiclous. A slap in the face to talented singers who may not have as much box office appeal as pretty boy Pierce. So, its obvious that CB was used for the same tactic - marquee power, name recognition, etc. Whatever, it is what it is, enough of that. My even bigger regret is having gone to the show at all. I never saw the movie, aiming to stay away from the lewd dancing and celebration of crime and adultery, and yes, I considered myself somewhat pious for doing so all these years. In a moment of what we'll call weakness my curiousity got the best of me and with a friend in town and Anything Goes not available at the discount box office (TKTS), we voted on Chicago. Yeah, again my "gut" and/or what we know as a conscience and the Spirit told me that it would be exactly that - lewd and not uplifting. Sure, great music, great acting, great choreography, funny story, feathers and fluff, but the point is that I knew that going in it would somewhat disappointing. $85 dollars later...

The next morning we had Stake Conference and Elder Eyring spoke about going to the temple more often to truly progress toward perfection. He referenced the commandment to "deny yourselves of all ungodliness" and it hit me like a ton of bricks. My friend and I didn't take the time to go to the temple this past weekend but we did find the time to see Chicago. Ungodly? Somewhat. Pretty much. My priorities need to shift and I need to work of self-mastery and developing an appetite for spiritual things and suppressing the appetite for worldliness. Just my own personal impressions of course. And not to blow this into something bigger than it was - just a mediocre performance and a reminder that our time on earth is precious so why am I not making better use of mine? We should have gone to see Rock of Ages after we'd gone to the temple. Then my weekend would have been more satisfying.

Its a Girl!

We had the anatomy ultrasound this morning and they confirmed the gender of our new Nelson baby. Its a girl! Sydnie Jolene, I love you so much already!!! Thanks to a loving Heavenly Father for this gift. I've waited a long time for you. Hopefully your brother, Jonah, will be next and coming along shortly. Peter, is of course, disappointed that we aren't having a "man child"... just kidding.